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Photo Gallery: Tsunamis

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Flooded Area

Photograph by DigitalGlobe/Getty Images

Churning waters retreat from the battered coast of Kalutara, Sri Lanka, after a tsunami hit coastal areas throughout the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004. The tsunami was triggered by an underwater 9.0-magnitude earthquake between the Indonesian island of Sumatra and the Indian Andaman Islands.

Beached Boat

Photograph by Scott Barbour, Getty Images

Fishermen try to dig out a boat washed ashore by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The wave devastated coastal communities, wiping villages off the map and carrying boats onto unfamiliar, dry territory.

House Damaged by Tsunami, Sri Lanka

Photograph by Scott Barbour, Getty Images

A Sri Lankan woman collects personal items as her husband surveys damage to their coastal Colombo home two days after a tsunami swept through the Indian Ocean. Officials estimated that the tsunami forced more than one million Sri Lankans from their homes.

Chile Tsunami

Photograph by Claudio Santana, AFP/Getty Images

A man walks through the rubble of a house in Dichato, Chile, after an April 2010, 8.8-magnitude earthquake caused tsunamis that damaged coastal towns. Dichato is on the Pacific coast approximately 43 miles (70 kilometers) south of the epicenter of the earthquake.

Sri Lanka Clean Up

Photograph by Paula Bronstein, Getty Images

Twelve-year-old Fathma Nusrat stands amid debris near her home in Galle, Sri Lanka, following the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. She lost her three brothers to the killer wave.

Damage to India Vegetation

Photograph by Deshakalyn Chowdhury, AFP/Getty Images

Stripped of foliage, trees on India's Great Nicobar Island stand in pools left by the 2004 tsunami. The countries worst hit by the tsunami were Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.

Shoveling Debris

Photograph by Claudio Santana, AFP/Getty Images

A man shovels debris from inside his house in Dichato after the April 2010 Chile tsunami. A tsunami happens when a massive amount of water is displaced, usually by an earthquake. The earthquake that caused the Chile tsunami was powerful enough to move the entire city of Concepcion ten feet to the west and shorten the Earth's rotation.

Damaged Truck

Photograph by Marcelo Hernandez, LatinContent/Getty Images

A motorist tries to fix a truck damaged by the April 2010 Chile tsunami. Waves caused by the earthquake reached as far as Japan, although they were not big enough to cause any damage.

Carrying Belongings After Tsunami

Photograph by Choo Youn-Kong, AFP/Getty Images

Acres of rubble surround an Indonesian man carting merchandise from his damaged shop in Banda Aceh six days after the 2004 tsunami overwhelmed coastal Indian Ocean towns with waves as high as 30 feet (9 meters).

Tsunami Relief, Sri Lanka

Photograph by Paula Bronstein, Getty Images

An aerial view of Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, shows a debris-littered landscape after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami swept the coastline. The devastating tsunami drove the ocean more than half a mile (1 kilometer) inland. In deeper waters, tsunamis can travel up to 500 miles (800 kilometers) per hour.